adjunct faculty

faculty

enrollment specialist

education manager

registered nurse - medical / surgical

Galen College of Nursing

Galen promotes values such as inclusivity, character, accountability, respect, excellence, and compassion. Unfortunately, there continues to be a significant gap between those values and the reality many employees experience on a daily basis.

The onboarding process presents an organization that values collaboration, innovation, student success, and employee development. Once inside, however, employees quickly learn that navigating personalities, politics, and optics is often more important than producing results or advocating for meaningful change.

If you are someone who genuinely cares about students, educational quality, accountability, and improving processes, you may find yourself frustrated. Employees who identify problems and bring forward solutions are often ignored until issues become unavoidable. In some cases, ideas are repackaged and presented by others, while those who challenge existing practices risk being labeled as difficult or not being a team player.

As someone who has been here since the campus opened, I have witnessed an alarming amount of turnover. Many talented employees are no longer with the organization, and the reasons often seem to have more to do with personalities, politics, or protecting leadership narratives than actual job performance. The loss of institutional knowledge and strong employees continues to impact both staff and students.

The current local leadership team appears to be struggling with employee morale, retention, communication, and trust. Staff frequently operate in an environment where they feel overextended, unsupported, and uncertain about how decisions are being made. There is often a noticeable focus on appearances and managing perceptions, particularly when senior leadership visits campus, rather than addressing the ongoing concerns employees raise throughout the year.

The lack of diversity within local leadership is also difficult to ignore. The leadership team does not reflect the student population it serves, raising legitimate concerns about representation, perspective, and the ability to fully understand the experiences of the community they are responsible for leading.

One of the most concerning aspects of the culture is the lack of psychological safety. Employees are encouraged to provide feedback, participate in difficult conversations, and raise concerns. However, there is a widespread perception that doing so can ultimately work against you. Trust becomes difficult when employees see colleagues praised one day and marginalized the next.

A particularly troubling dynamic is the way employees are sometimes pulled into conversations regarding concerns about other staff members. One day you may be encouraged to participate in discussions about someone else’s performance or behavior, and the next day you may find yourself facing scrutiny under a completely different narrative. This creates an environment where people become cautious about who they trust and what they say.

For an institution that speaks so frequently about caring, compassion, and student-centered values, there remains a disconnect between the message being communicated and the experience many employees live every day. The students deserve better. The employees deserve better. And until leadership is willing to address the underlying cultural issues instead of managing perceptions, those problems will likely continue.

Compensation is another area where the organization falls short. Pay for non-management positions is significantly below what many employees could earn elsewhere with similar responsibilities, education, and experience. Employees are routinely asked to take on increasing workloads, additional projects, and responsibilities outside of their job descriptions without meaningful adjustments to compensation. While the organization frequently speaks about investing in students and growth, that same investment is not consistently reflected in the people doing the day-to-day work of supporting those students. The result is predictable: burnout, turnover, and talented employees leaving for organizations that value their contributions both professionally and financially.

But, they don’t CARE! 

If adjunct clinical faculty you work two to four 8-9 hours a days at a clinical site with students. If adjunct lecture faculty you teach classes online or in person, must have office hours, prep work and maintain an online course for student access. Have been told by full time faculty that they do all this and then extra that is added such as committees and/or other activities as assigned. 
Poor orientation and insufficient exposure on various software and computer programs. Need to spend more time on how to access information needed to complete duties of position. Need to consolidate their multiple software systems to transfer data once entered. Appears to be a patchwork conglomeration sewed together by multiple creators. Still use scan trons for testing. 
For profit school that will take any student who can pay. Charge students more than the state schools but pay instructors less than even the local community colleges in the area. Profess this area has a lower cost of living than others but property value rates and rents have increased dramatically within the past 5 years but they are acting as if nothing has changed. Have a constant turn over rate for instructors. Many of the instructors who work there have additional jobs to make ends meet.
If you still want to apply, the HR person you deal with is in Florida. He will offer you bottom dollar to work there and if you balk at the money he will tell you that instructors always get much less than if you are working clinical. It's just not that much less at other places in San Antonio. Just know they will probably hire you if you want.

I wore many hats at Galen. I performed routine maintenence daily. In charge of the books students used. Unboxing, storing and distribution of all books. Provided inventory count for reordering for the next semester of new students. Setup all special events including graduation at the graduation venue. Assist students with any questions or concerns by helping or providing information on who can help them. Assisted IT with helping students with printing or lost and found item. Brewed coffee in the mornings for students. Clean up any spills or messes. Replaced water filters in water stations and refrigerators. Worked with contractors when needed. Helped setup all the classrooms and labs when first opened then helped maintain cleanliness throughout the campus. Walked the parking to find parking violations. Provided assistance for students and staff if cars need jump starts, fix flat tires or running lights if needed. Build charging stations for iPads used for testing. Performed fixes for traing stethoscope and mannequins when needed to save cost on buying new ones. My goal was to keep student, faculty and staff safe and secure. Performed security escorting students that were banned from campus of campus. Performed drywall repairs and painted. Clean carpets while students are on break. Started escorting students of the graduation stage ensuring that they did not slip trip and fall on their big night.

Currently working with the CEO's sister, although she barely comes to work and doesn't have any real day-to-day responsibilities like the rest of the office. The leadership department is big on favoritism and never provides real constructive criticism due to fear of hurting people's feelings or them leaving. There isn't any potential for growth unless you are a favorite or go above & beyond to get noticed by someone outside of your department. The pay is VERY disproportionate - people who have worked for 5 years with Galen are getting paid the same as new hires, which isn't fair. Raises are very rare, even with all the new campuses being added they still say they don't have "enough money". Management is not clear about expectations and a lot of people are very complacent with either the poor performance of other employees or the company. Management makes a lot of false promises and never goes above & beyond for their employees but expects in some ways for their employees to do that for the college. Mark(CEO) wants all employees back on campus, and he won't even consider developing the remote work environment. It's not a horrible place, but they push the "Kool-Aid" too much thinking it is the best place. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working with my Alumni is a realized aspiration. The orientation process and ongoing setup have been welcoming and have provided the necessary tools for success today and in the future.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Traveling to clinical locations can be stressful, with some appointments delayed due to heavy traffic congestion, causing significant inconvenience and potential impacts on appointment schedules.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Friendly, supportive, and reassuring message that offers genuine comfort and encouragement, ensuring the recipient feels valued and understood.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrange a meeting with the facility's nursing leadership and educators to review their expectations and responsibilities. Take a comprehensive tour of the facility to introduce attendees to important areas and safety procedures. Also, meet with the students to discuss their roles and address any questions or concerns regarding assignments. Pair students with preceptors, conduct regular rounds, and ensure breaks and debriefings are provided before dismissal.

As a clinical instructor, I prepared clinical patient assignments for 7-9  nursing students in an acute care setting.  The students engaged in the application of the nursing process and the daily formulation of individualized nursing care plans identifying all aspects of the patient including physical, psychosocial, cultural and spiritual needs.My responsibilities also included the students orientation, training to computerized documentation, guidance, preparation and clinical evaluation. I collaborated with the staff, unit manager and hospital educator to maximize the learning process for each student. In my role, I also served as a liaison between the college of nursing and each clinical location. I enjoyed the relationships immensely that was developed in my role as an educator. My co-workers were supportive, enthusiastic and great to work with on various committees.  I never viewed any aspect of my position in a negative light however, the college did endure several transitions in management which impacted faculty.

While I have never been involved in a cult, I imagine it is very similar to working at Galen. They have a group mindset and groupthink attitude that permeates the entire organization from the top down. The local leadership offered little, if any, support. There was an unequal distribution of work. The less productive you were, the less work you were assigned. And if you did ask for help, your pleas for assistance were ignored. It was not so much what you knew or what your educational background was, but rather, who you knew. There was a great deal of nepotism and cronyism throughout the organization. Senior leadership at my particular campus were very disorganized and lacked in time management skills. They would often pawn off on the subordinates those tasks that they did not want to do. They would do this under the clause in the job description of "other duties as assigned." The pay was far less than at other local academic institutions. I cannot recommend this organization as a place to work or as a place for a positive educational experience. 

Galen College of Nursing does not understand how to cultivate a culture of respect for teaching.  All decisions from the faculty are undermined and faculty have zero academic freedom.  The administration at Louisville cultivates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.  Anybody who suggests changes is met with punishment in regards to scheduling, advancement and even threats of termination.

Turnover at Cincinnati campus over the past 2 years is over 50%. More importantly, over the past 5 years, despite many changes at the local administration level, the turnover has been very high (over 50% every two years).  If you are a science or general education teacher, I would really recommend going elsewhere.  They try to water down these courses and show minimum support and respect for these faculty.    Additionally, with no long term faculty, it is hard to envision how this school is going to be successful.  For many former employees, this was almost a career-ending job.

If you don't want to be looking for a new job in 6 to 12 months then don't work here.  The culture and mission of Galen College has gone down hill since being bought out by HCA.  Upper management only cares about shmoozing with HCA higher ups and will not listen to front line employees.  They have really moved in the direction of do more with less over the last couple of years.  They talk a good game about culture but it really isn't true.  Turnover is horrible and they will not look internally on why this happens.  Standard thought is that a person left because they just don't know how to be happy and it's fine with them that they left.  It couldn't possibly be internal issues and everyone is replaceable.  
Benefits are not that good and salary increases from one year to another are just awful.  The standard line is that as they open new campuses is that those capital projects cost money and those campuses won't be making money for a few years.  Meanwhile standards for more students don't really exist and Galen has just become a farm for nurses for HCA.

To begin, I had no support, no mentor and even who stated they would help me would not help or just did not know how to help me ***(Meaning - explaining things to me), not just saying "Go click here read and then to it". As a new teacher, I felt that no matter how hard I tried, I would never learn, that I would never be a "fit" for their culture. I walked by a group of instructors talking about me and they did not care that I could hear them.  They stated "I was stupid, messed up and always asked the same questions over and over". This was due to nobody sitting with me and explaining or allowing me to learn how I learn.  It's a complete "only tell you once and then you better get it" type of place to work, even if you are doing something for the very first time. I never felt like I would ever succeed 


Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Adjunct faculty 132 salaries reported	$72,800 per year
Faculty 165 salaries reported	$83,885 per year
Enrollment specialist 35 salaries reported	$24.47 per hour
Education manager 11 salaries reported	$95,950 per year
Registered nurse - medical / surgical 13 salaries reported	$83,002 per year

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